1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of water cooling towers and especially to an improved clip for securing horizontal bars of a splash type fill assembly to respective supporting grid members which are a part of upright, horizontally spaced fill support grids. In particular, the invention is concerned with clips that are useful without modification in the field to secure water cooling tower splash bars to grids which have support grid members of varying cross-sectional shape and dimensions.
Specifically, the invention concerns a clip having structure defining a channel for receiving the horizontal grid member of an upright support grid and a number of deflectable elements or tabs connected to the channel defining structure which serve to lock the clip to the grid member. The tabs are constructed and arranged such that they deflect to an extent as may be necessary to accomodate grid members of different dimensions while at the same time adapt to grid members of round as well as cross-sectional elongated shapes. In preferred forms of the invention, the clip is integrally molded of a synthetic resinous material and the tabs are relatively thin and resilient for self-deflecting away from the position projecting into the channel as the clip is installed onto larger grid members.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Industrial evaporative water cooling towers of the crossflow type have long been provided with splash fill structure comprising an array of horizontally extending slats or bars. Hot water to be cooled is primarily in the form of droplets or small streams which discharge from a distribution system overlying the fill structure and fall onto and directly impact the upper faces of the splash bars. As the water droplets contact the splash bars, the hot water is further dispersed and even smaller drops are formed to facilitate the cooling process. Simultaneously, cooling air currents are drawn in essentially a horizontal pattern through the fill structure, either by means of motor driven fans or through use of a natural draft-inducing hyperbolic tower for intimate, interactive thermal exchange with the descending water drops before the latter are ultimately collected in a cold water basin underlying the fill structure.
Splash bars of a crossflow cooling tower should remain in a straight, horizontal orientation for optimum performance of the tower. If the bars tend to sag, uniform hot water and cooling air distribution throughout the fill structure is disrupted and the effectiveness of the tower will be impaired. To avoid this problem, a plurality of upright grids having horizontal splash bar supporting members are spaced on centers small enough to prevent the splash bars from sagging under normal conditions.
It has also long been recognized that the motor, fan and connecting drive shafts of mechanical draft towers transmit a certain amount of vibration to other components of the tower including the splash bars and the supporting grids, tending to dislodge the splash bars from their initial positions. Air flow through the fill structure and impingement of water at various angles against the fill bars tend to aggravate the tendency of the splash bars to shift from their desired disposition. Over a period of time, interengaging portions of the horizontal supporting grid members and the bars may also abrade unless relative movement between the same is precluded. As a consequence, it has been the practice to utilize coupling devices for securing each splash bar to its underlying, horizontal support section of the adjacent grid. Representative coupling devices have taken the form of synthetic resinous clips provided with upper wall portions located to engage adjacent regions of the splash bar, a horizontally extending portion intermediate the bottom of the bar and the top of the horizontal grid member section to prevent rubbing contact between the bar and the grid, and legs depending from the horizontal portion in disposition to receive a respective horizontal grid member.
Certain types of clips for attaching splash bars to fill support grids have incorporated depending pairs of opposed legs which are cooperable with the intermediate, horizontal portion of the clip to define a channel for receiving the horizontal grid section. The legs of such clips, in more detail, extend downwardly in a vertical direction from the horizontal portion of the clip a certain distance, and then extend at an angle relative to vertical to present an inverted V-shaped profile when viewing the legs from one end of the clip. In addition, each leg includes a protuberance located at the intersection of the inclined portion and the vertical portion; the protuberances of each pair of legs, when viewed from the end of the clip, project toward each other to define the bottom of the channel that receives the grid member section.
Clips as described above, have for the most part been integrally molded of a synthetic resinous material so that they have a degree of inherent resiliency. As a consequence, the legs of the clip are deflectable in a direction away from each other when installed on the grid member section to enable the latter to pass through the narrowed region presented between the protuberances and be received in the larger, overlying channel. Thereafter, the resilient legs return toward one another so that the protuberances function to retain the clip and the splash bar supported thereby on the horizontal bar section of the grid.
In many instances, the splash bar supporting grids are comprised of a non-deteriorating glass fiber reinforced polyester (GRP) material which has been found to provide satisfactory service over extended periods of time. In other cases, though, the supporting grid may take the form of stainless steel rods or bars that are welded together in a lattice-type arrangement. However, the transverse cross-sectional area of a stainless steel grid member is usually considerably smaller than the transverse area of a grid member fabricated from glass reinforced polyester. GRP grids on the other hand are also of elongated transverse shape rather than being truly round as in the case of steel grids, further complicating the task of providing a universally usable splash bar clip.
In the past, it has been the common practice of tower manufacturers and installers to retain on hand two varieties of clips for securing certain splash bars to the supporting grids. The legs of one variety of clip were formed to present a channel sufficiently large for receiving a section of a grid fabricated from glass reinforced polyester materials. The other variety of clip had legs presenting a somewhat smaller channel complemental in configuration to the cylindrical shape of the stainless steel grid members. In this manner, a clip could be selected in accordance with the type of fill structure employed, with the result that the channel presented by the selected clip would be of a proper configuration for receiving the chosen type of grid in close contact with the same.
One problem associated with the use of two varieties of clips, however, is the necessity of manufacturing, handling and stocking a sufficient quantity of each clip. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a single clip which is adapted to readily accommodate and receive sections of grid members of different diameters and having substantially different configurations in transverse cross-section.